Just Be Rich (2021)

[flagged]

Totally agree. One of my biggest critiques of entrepreneur and hacker circles is how much they ride PG. dude is rich, not some sort of genius policy maker.

The difference between a lot of hackers now and PG isnt talent, it is that someone was making a good website when the internet pretty much was empty lol. Google was still a baby compared to yahoo.

edit: since i was pretty negative here, i will sing some praise.

Graham is incredibly technologically capable, knows what problems are worth investing in, and is great at leading people. Those qualities are great, and he is a world star at it.

This article feels like an attempt to morally wash one's hands of the moral stink of capitalism. Do you really think that because you're in tech and not mining, that the accumulation of wealth is any less driven by exploitation?

By the way, I don't know the answer to this. I myself am a landlord. But if we're getting into morality, let's fully examine this.

11.5% of Americans are below the poverty line. The same economic system that makes is possible to become rich enforces a roughly 5% unemployment rate. This unemployment rate is necessary to prevent a wage price spiral. There are people who are paid a lot of money (Federal Reserve), whose job it is to pull levers and turn dials until the unemployment rate is at that magic 5%. They actively ensure people can't make a living, to allow you the chance to accumulate wealth.

You may not be directly responsible for their poverty– but their poverty makes your accumulation of wealth possible. Without a 5% unemployment rate, the delicate balance of the economy cascades into oblivion in a wage-price spiral.

So here's my moral question– do you then owe them anything? Do you owe society anything?

Maybe there is something wrong with "just being rich" if you don't attempt to use some of your money for the betterment of your community and society that is actively made worse to allow you to get rich.

If you want to get rich, get rich. But don't fool yourself into thinking that it's morally good. It can be, but it's probably not. Because it's probably at the expense of others in some direct or indirect way.

By the way I'm pulling punches here. This is a very gentle response to try and get you to think differently about your ethics.

---

If you're the sort of person that always needs to feel morally right, then I would say getting rich probably isn't for you. Any moral argument you can come up to protect your ego would be fragile, and easily undone.

What about wealth you build for yourself ?

Many of the duplexes in town were built by small builders who passed them on to family.

Now they are treated like rich landowners but in reality grandpa built the wealth.

Do you not see how this was luck? Certainly, actions were taken to encourage an outcome (holding an asset of potential future value), but luck as a component of a favorable outcome cannot be overstated.